Master of Science in Civil Engineering with emphasis in Transportation Systems

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT

Program Director: Khaled Abdelghany, Ph.D.

Introduction

The revolution in information technology is leading to a similar revolution in another essential element of modern life: transportation. With transportation demand growing in the face of shrinking resources—including funding—the direction is changing from building new infrastructure to managing existing systems through the use of sophisticated management, analysis, and modeling tools. This is the high road in transportation systems management, the path awaiting those who choose it as the focus of their Master of Science in Civil Engineering at SMU-Lyle.

Continuing advances in telecommunications, information management, and computing technology have paved the way to more efficient use of existing infrastructure, more intelligent planning, and ultimately, the creation of 'smart cities' with fully integrated transportation systems. This is the focus of Lyle’s M.S. in civil engineering with emphasis in transportation systems management. In addition to core subjects such as transportation planning, traffic engineering, and highway design, students have the opportunity to explore such cross-disciplinary electives as numerical analysis, logistics systems engineering, transportation demand analysis, environmental management systems, and economic decision analysis, among many others. They acquire a strong analytical background plus an understanding of how analysis and optimization tools from other fields can be applied to 21st century transportation issues and goals.

Admission Requirements

In addition to meeting the Lyle School of Engineering admission requirements for an M.S. degree, applicants are required to satisfy the following additional requirement: a B.S. in civil engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.

Degree Requirements

In addition to meeting the Lyle School of Engineering degree requirements for an M.S. degree, candidates are required to satisfy these additional requirements:

30 credit hours, with a minimum graduate G.P.A. of 3.000 on a 4.000 scale. Additional articulation courses may be required for students without a civil engineering undergraduate degree.

Given the multidisciplinary nature of civil engineering, the core curriculum and elective courses comprising the degree plans for master’s students will vary, depending on the student’s undergraduate background and their desired area of specialization.

Satisfactory completion of the core curriculum consisting of five courses (15 credit hours):